Monday, January 19, 2015

15cm Nebelwerfer Rocket Platoon

I finished painting this platoon of 15cm Nebelwerfers in September for Attack-X. I wasn't happy with how the sandbags looked and it took me another four months before I took them out of the case and painted them again. At long last I am finally pleased with their finished appearance. So, after a long delay, I present to you my Nebelwerfer platoon.

15cm Nebelwerfers are an option in many German lists from Early War (with Barbarossa) to the very end of the war. For this reason, I put in extra effort to make sure that this platoon looked good and would fit in with the rest of my company and my future companies. I based them to match my other urban infantry but left them generic enough to work for the Eastern or Western Front.

Mattress from Peter Pig.

The models for this platoon are Battlefront's 15cm Nebelwerfer blister (for the guns) with the crew and command figures from the Open Fire set and the plastic Panzergrenadier platoon. All of my infantry and tank commanders are plastic so I wanted this platoon to match. I converted some Pak 40 crew with greenstuff to be holding nebelwerfer rockets. I then tried to create a little diorama with a Panzergrenadier squad moving through a reloading Nebelwerfer battery.

A panzergrenadier squad on patrol.

I magnetized the Nebelwerfer guns. I used some rare earth magnets to make them removable from the base. Maybe if I am lucky I can fit some Panzerwerfers in the same spot. In a pinch I can put other artillery in the same spot if I need some quickly for a game.

The plastic figures are really enjoyable to paint. The details are well sculpted. The new plastic panzergrenadiers are especially crisp and detailed. There are a number of nice poses and the models have lots of character and variety. Another advantage of the plastic models is that I can carefully cut off the bases and glue them to plasticard (as I have done here).

The guns were painted in the same way as I paint tanks.

I've played a number of games (probably 15-20) with the Nebelwerfers. I've mostly been using the Reluctant Trained platoon from Panzers to the Meuse. They are a cheap platoon to put in reserve and often don't contribute to the game when in reserve. When on the board they contribute and cheap and important smoke template and a nice threat to clumped up infantry. For 70 points they do their job at a low cost. The biggest downside is that if you leave them exposed they are a very easy victory point for your opponent.

This guy is just relaxing on watch.

The command team was hard to fit on with all the stuff on their tiny base.

I spent time painting extra details on this platoon. I used the Art of War book from Battlefront to ensure I had somewhat correct rank markings on each model. I added extra details like ribbons, helmet decals, waffenfarbe, piping, tank destroyer awards, and labels where I was able to.

The observer team is staking out a gas station recently abandoned by the Allied troops.

This platoon was a lot of fun to model and paint and has seen lots of use in games already. Check back in the next few weeks to see some more infantry, some Jagdtigers, and a tutorial on painting German tracks. You can see the rest of my Panzer Lehr company by clicking on this link. Thanks to everyone for your support as this blog grows. I'm excited to hopefully hit a new milestone this week as the next new follower makes 300! Thanks for visiting.

Fantastic stuff. There's so much I want to give positive comments on, but I'll hold back to a few. Love the multi colour stone work in the walls. The basic feldgrau looks amazing. Totally dig the shading on each flagstone of the basing material.....can you comment on how one goes about achieving this effect?

Thanks for the kibd words, Dave. I painted the flagstones by airbrushing successive layers of Grey to highlight each flag stone. Sounds tedious but it was pretty fast. I then used a brown enamel wash to shade in between them.

Hey, no problem. I don't mask them in this case as a little over spray is fine. I spray 4 layers over the black and focus on the middle of each flagstone with each layer. I used Vallejo model air German Grey, primer Grey, and light Grey for these. I'm planning to do an urban badibg tutorial soon so I can always make flagstones like this a part of it.

- those sandbags. Hate them. They look terrible! I don't know what you must've been thinking! You should totally repaint them - all of them. In fact, better still: just throw the whole darned lot on the fire.